Could you go to jail over a duckling?If you said yes, you're a good person. If you got indignant that we're even asking, odds are, you live in Gulfport, where ducks... well, ducks aren't exactly worshipped in this one-of-a-kind town, but they aren't exactly not worshipped, either.
Case in point: When faced with potential arrest on Monday, May 18, a group of Gulfportians scoffed at the possibility of jail time, ignored the police, and went after a duckling in peril. By the end, even the police had joined the rescue effort.
On Monday at Tomlinson Park's retention pond, Gulfportians spotted a two-week-old duckling with a white plastic soda bottle ring stuck around its neck. Attempts to capture the duckling and remove the ring riled neighbors, who thought someone was trying to harass the ducks (which has totally happened before, once when a local couple received a ticket for attempted duck theft and spooked the entire Gulfport Duck Underground and once when a string of duck deaths around the pond had locals burning up the phone lines to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).
Locals called the police, who, upon arrival, didn't see the duckling and so halted rescue attempts, citing laws that—we're paraphrasing, here—prohibit duck interaction.
Gulfportians, known for not only marching to the beat of their own drum but for making up new percussion instruments to which they choose to march, only grew more resolved to rescue the duck. Word of the duckling's plight spread across Gulfport community pages on Facebook, as did stories of police interference. Although the police initially stopped rescue proceedings, it quickly became clear that arresting everyone at the pond who intended to break the law would tax the department's resources and that several rescuers could actually do more good than harm.
By lunchtime Gulfport police officer Samantha Orbrat determined rescuers had the means to help the duckling and unofficially—and probably with no small amount of resignation and internal grumbling about why she went to the police academy in the first place—assumed the head of the rescue effort. She directed rescuers to strategic lookout positions around the pond, making sure one rescuer had a net and another a multi-tool to cut the ring from the duck's neck if necessary.
"Before we do this, I have to tell you that the City of Gulfport is not liable if you get hurt, you know that, right?" she asked.
Rescuers brushed aside her concerns and jumped into the effort, feet first. Literally.
The owner of a popular Gulfport Italian eatery, clad in a summery sundress, swam across the pond, trailing the ducklings as they disappeared into a copse of trees. Another local, who arrived armed with duck food and watermelon, met her halfway across the pond as her husband slowly circled the pond.
After an hour, professional duck rescuer, Mike Price, arrived on scene to help with rescue efforts.
Fun fact: Ducks can apparently walk underwater. None of the group intent on saving the duckling – including Officer Obrart, who has a job that kind of implies she's a professional at observation – saw the ducks leave the stand of trees and bushes, but Price found them on the other side of the pond, hiding with their mother under vegetation. When he managed to net the duckling, he said it was moving along the bottom of the pond.
Within moments, Price liberated the duckling from the white ring and returned the duckling to the care of its mother, who seemed unimpressed and slightly irritated with the day's rescue efforts.
If left around the duck's neck, the plastic ring would have ultimately asphyxiated the duck. Surfrider Foundation has more information about the impact of plastics on wildlife.